Philips DVP5982/37 Choppy video on divx playback

Sorry for the multiple lists below - I just wanted to maximize search hits for anyone with this problem...

Problem: Philips DVD player DVP5982 DVP5982/37 HDMI 1080p DivX Ultra (and probably the DVP3040, DVP3960, DVP5140, DVP5960, DVP5980 divx players) has picture judder, juddering, jitter, jittering, shaking, not smooth, choppy, choppiness, discontinuous, interrupted video playback with divx, xvid, .avi files that have been encoded with packed bitstream. This artifact artefact persists whether playing from USB or optical drive (disc, CD, CDR, CDRW, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, DVDR, DVDRW, DVD-R, DVD-RW).

Solution: Download the free application MPEG4 Modifier from:

hXXp://moitah.net/

and if the file was encoded with packed bitstream, resave as unpacked. This software will also allow you to modify aspect ratio settings.

Additional tips:
Region-free hack:

- Press "SETUP" on remote

- Navigate to [Preference] menu

- Press 1,3,8,9,3,1

- Press up or down to scroll through regions; select "0" for region-free

- Press "menu" to exit

hXXp:// www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks/philips-dvp-5982/8185

How to determine your firmware version:

- Press "SETUP" on remote

- Navigate to [General Options] menu

- Press 1,3,7,9

This will display the firmware version numbers

hXXp:// www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks/philips-dvp-5982/8185

Newest firmware available from Philips:

Version: V37.07.32.43 (as of 12-28-08)

hXXp:// www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/dcbint/cpindex.pl?scy=US&slg=AEN&cat=DVD_HOME_THEATER_CA&sct=DVD_PLAYERS_SU&grp=HOME_ENTERTAINMENT_GR&session=20081228130759_24.192.27.1&ctn=DVP5982/37&mid=Link_Software&hlt=Link_Software

NOTE: some users report having purchased machines with newer firmware versions (e.g. V37.07.56.22)

hXXp:// www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13304759

NOTE: some users report damaging their machines while upgrading firmware

hXXp:// www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12741966

Owner's manual:

hXXp:// www.p4c.philips.com/files/d/dvp5982_37/dvp5982_37_dfu_aen.pdf